About Susan
Susan VanHuizen is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and addiction. She practices from Michigan and focuses on practical ways to feel better day to day. Susan aims to help people rebuild after big life changes and find steadier ground.
Her work emphasizes simple, usable skills. She draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to spot unhelpful thoughts and change unhelpful routines.
Background and approach
Mindfulness practices are used to help people slow down, notice what matters, and reduce reactivity. Susan also uses dialectical behavior approaches to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills. Motivational Interviewing helps when someone feels stuck or unsure about making changes, especially around addiction or health behaviors.
She pays attention to practical life concerns that often come with emotional struggle, such as money stress, caregiving, chronic illness, and changes like divorce or separation. Work in sessions often includes setting small goals, trying out new coping tools, and checking what actually helps. Sessions are meant to be down-to-earth and focused.
Susan aims to help people regain a sense of control, rebuild self-esteem, and move toward clearer purpose. Her approach is steady, pragmatic, and respectful of each person’s pace.
Therapeutic approaches for online care
CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, helps people notice patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going and then try small, practical changes. It is often used for anxiety, stress, and low mood and focuses on clear steps and homework you can try between sessions.DBT, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, teaches skills to manage strong emotions and handle crisis moments without making things worse. These skills include emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication, which can help with overwhelming anxiety or urges related to addiction.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Susan will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and pace. She checks in regularly and adjusts tools when something is not helping.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit busy lives. Video sessions allow fuller conversation and visual connection, phone can work when bandwidth is limited, live chat or texting can be useful for brief check-ins or ongoing support between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or medical schedules while keeping the focus on practical skill-building.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English
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